Village of Jordan defines, protects 'tree lawn'

The village of Jordan Board of Trustee approved a local law Thursday Sept. 16 that will let tree lawns be tree lawns.

A tree lawn, as defined by the village, is any area between the street and sidewalk that can support grass or any other vegetation. The village intends to beautify and restore the village's tree lawns, and the law will help them enforce any hazardous behavior toward them.

"It may take us a while to get it done, but we intend to go through and revegetate those spaces that have been driven over," Mayor Dick Platten said.

One reason the village is pursuing the law is that abused tree lawns have had a negative effect on students trying to walk to school, Platten said.

"It impacts the sidewalks ... In the winter time, it impacts the kids getting to school and it makes a muddy, sloppy mess, and we're trying to avoid that," Platten said.

The law makes very clear that using a tree lawn as a driveway , or converting it into one, is not an option. For instance, "Areas between the sidewalk and street that have never been paved but have had gravel added to them by residents are considered tree lawn."

Under the law, "simply wanting more parking space" does not make one exempt from the regulations set forth by the village.